


The Crooked Woman

by AugustStories



Series: Personal Writing Challenge October 2019 [20]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Adorable little Arthur, Big Brothers, I just love writing kid Arthur, Kid Arthur being scared of many things, Kingsguard, Nameday Celebrations, Protective big brothers, Siblings, little Arthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 14:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21163136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AugustStories/pseuds/AugustStories
Summary: Little Arthur doesn't understand why inviting so many people to his mother's nameday has to be a thing, it's not exciting, it's scary.Two guests make him change his mind though.





	The Crooked Woman

**Author's Note:**

> To support my friend with her inktober challenge, I made myself a writing challenge so she wouldn't be handling prompt works on a daily basis alone. I will be posting all works that aren't based on original writing where you guys wouldn't understand the context, this is day 24.
> 
> I can't wait for these random title prompts of the challenge to be over tomorrow!

Arthur didn't understand how everyone could be so excited and happy over the arrival of the ships in the harbor below Starfall. It was terrifying to have to meet strangers, to welcome them into his home. It was scary and he didn't like it, he didn't understand why his Papa wanted all these people to come just because his Mama's nameday was coming up.

In the early morning of the day where his Papa had said they would get guests, Arthur snuck himself out of his nursery while his nursemaid was still asleep in the room next to it. It was so early that the sun was just peeking over the mountains as he climbed up the staircase on bare feet, the windows also showing him that the harbor was not filled with ships yet, his Papa had said it would be so full later.

Arthur didn't like that at all. He didn't want people coming into his home.

The corridor above the one where he had his room was empty and quiet still, his Papa and Mama slept here, his sister had her room next to his still but Ashara was excited, she hadn't had bad dreams. She didn't understood why Arthur was scared, she didn't get it. People also loved her, people always told her how pretty she was and how polite. Someone who wouldn't tell him he was silly was his brother though and Arthur very carefully opened the door to Andric's rooms.

It was silent still because even Andric slept still but Arthur was scared and he didn't want to bother his Papa and Mama had been so busy in the last days. His brother was burrowed under the covers and Arthur climbed up on the bed and then crawled under the covers, wriggling himself under Andric's arm. His brother gave a huff and moved so Arthur could snuggle up against his chest, hiding his face away in his brother's tunic, strong arms got wrapped around him.

"Why are you awake?" Andric asked him really sleepy and Arthur didn't say anything, just fisted a hand into his brother's pillow and kept quiet. He was good in being quiet, he liked quiet, he didn't like strangers. Andric sighed and stroked a hand through Arthur's hair, "sleep a little more, Artie, there is no reason to be scared. I'll keep you with me, and then you'll see that you'll have lots of fun as well."

\--

"I don't know how this goes," Arthur whined a few hours later, the sun now really up, and they were getting dressed in his brother's room. Andric had told Arthur's nursemaid to enjoy the day with her friends, he would take care of his brother today, Arthur really liked that.

"You don't have to wear all that, Artie," Andric said and picked Arthur up with easy hands, setting him down on the table next to the vanity. "You can just wear your tunic and a clean pair of pants."

"But I wanna look like you," Arthur protested and smiled when Andric sighed and then began to tug his doublet in and fasten the little belt.

"You're not gonna wear a cloak though, you'd only stumble," Andric told him and Arthur nodded, look over to the mirror when his brother was done and had tapped his nose. "Now, you look like someone doubled me and then shrunk me." Arthur looked down onto the table where his sock covered feet looked so small. "Hey, what's going on? You still scared?"

Arthur nodded and only looked up when his brother pulled his chin up with two fingers, "it's okay to be afraid but nothing will happen. You stick to me and you'll be fine." His brother really looked like him, just taller, stronger, no one made fun of him. They were the only ones with really light hair, their Papa and Mama were both dark haired like their sister. Papa's parents had been dark haired, too, it was Mama's parents who had somehow 'given' Andric and Arthur the light hair. Arthur didn't understand how they could give them that but he liked Nana and Poppa. "Don't you want to see the many ships come into the harbor? There'll be so many different sails." Arthur shook his head, stretching up his arms and Andric sighed but picked him up. "Listen, Artie, how many years are there between us? I know you know this."

"Ten," Arthur mumbled against his brother's shoulder and Andric ruffled his hair, walking over to the bed where he had laid down his cloak earlier.

"Exactly, ten years. You still have a lot of time to grow up." Andric set him down on top of the bed, "and this is our home. No one is gonna make fun of you in our home. And if someone still dares, they will regret that very quickly because I will not leave you today, alright? You stick right to my side." Arthur nodded very quickly and then wriggled away when his brother made to tickle him. "Now, come on, help me with my cloak and then we can go down. Show Mama how handsome we are for her."

\--

When it was time to go down to the harbor and greet the first guests who had arrived, Mama and Ash got to stay up at the castle and Ash stuck his tongue out at him when Arthur looked over his shoulder as his Papa and Andric led him to the really long scary staircase down to the harbor. Ash was six and she thought she was so much more grown up than Arthur but she was only one year older than him, so stupid.

"Alright, Artie," his Papa said when they began to climb down the stairs and Arthur held very tightly onto Andric's hand. "We're gonna greet a lot of people and it's completely okay if you get so scared that you wanna go up to Mama again. You just need to tell Andric or me, okay?"

"Yes, Papa."

"And you know the Martells, they're not scary."

They weren't scary but Prince Doran was older than Andric even, Prince Oberyn was two years older than Arthur and treated him like a baby and Princess Elia only liked Ash. 

"And I heard that Nana and Poppa are bringing guests along from the capital," his Papa continued as they turned a corner and Arthur gaped at the harbor filled with so many ships and people. Papa talking about the capital though made Arthur's heart do that funny thing though, the capital meant the King and the King meant the Kingsguard Knights. And the Kingsguard had fought in a war only a few years ago against the Blackfyres and the Golden Company, they were the greatest knights in all of Westeros.

They reached the harbor in no time and lined up to greet the guests that had already arrived, behind them servants and maids had lined up to guide the groups of people up to the castle. Arthur spent most of the time leaning against Andric's leg, clinging with one hand to his pants and watching his Papa and Andric shake hands. There so many people he didn't know and only some of them paid attention to Arthur, he liked that very much.

"Look, Artie, there are Nana and Poppa," Andric called down to him after some funny dressed people from Essos had walked off to the staircase and Arthur was still busy looking after them, the man had a parrot on his head. He was swung up on his brother's hip before he had turned around again and then he could easily see his Nana because she was wearing a bright purple dress.

And walking next to his Poppa was a man wearing a white cloak.

"That's a Kingsguard," Arthur whispered not very quietly and his Papa laughed, taking him over from Andric, "Papa, that's a Knight of the Kingsguard."

"I told you we are getting guests from the capital." His Papa told him again and Arthur blushed, "you know that your Mama knows the King and the Queen but they couldn't come so they send a representative in their stead. Do you know what that means?" Arthur shook his head, smiling though when his Nana waved at him as they approached and his Poppa was already grinning, maybe this wasn't so bad. "A representative is a man or a woman who visits you in the name of the King or a Prince or a Princess, or even a Lord, and they can make contracts for them or speak on their behalf or just show that the crown is there on a celebration like your Mama's big nameday."

And then Poppa and Nana were there and Arthur was handed over to his Poppa big arms and he got to hug him real tight. And Nana kissed his cheek and ruffled his chair and told him how sweet he looked and then she told Papa that he was getting fat.

"Andric, come over here, I want to introduce Artie and you to our friends." Poppa said just as Papa and Nana started arguing, Arthur didn't think that his Papa was fat. "Boys, let me introduce you to Ser Gerold Hightower and Princess Daenora Targaryen." Arthur didn't even know where to look first because Ser Gerold wasn't just a Kingsguard, he was the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and Princess Daenora was a real Targaryen Princess. Nana had been one, too, but she was a Velaryon now.

"It's an honor to meet you, Princess," Andric greeted her with a bow while Arthur couldn't get his tongue to work. "And it is an honor to meet you as well, Ser Gerold. My little brother here talks about nothing else but the Kingsguard most days." Eyes zeroed in on Arthur and he blushed so much that his ears got to hurting.

"You wanna be a Knight when you grow older, little boy?" Ser Gerold asked him and Arthur hid himself away against his Poppa's neck.

"You bet he will be one," his Papa said as he came over, "already grabbing that sword whenever he can. Works more in the sparring yard than my oldest."

"So young?" The Princess spoke up, Arthur still kept himself hidden though, "Beric, you shouldn't start them this young, let the boy play.

"I didn't start anything, he's been going for the swords since he was old enough to walk."

\--

"Papa," Arthur climbed up on his Papa's lap as the evening feast had gone over to the dancing part, his Papa had only returned to the high daise a few minutes ago, Andric was looking over as well. "Why do they call the Princess a crooked woman?" The wine Andric had just been drinking went everywhere as he started coughing wildly and Arthur's Papa blinked down at him.

"Who is calling her that, Artie?" He wanted to know and Arthur would have pointed to the men and women but he knew that wasn't polite. 

"People. They say that the King sends the Princess to do his traveling for him because he doesn't want her in the capital because she is a crooked woman. What does that mean?" He asked and didn't like how his Papa was paling a little before he looked over to Andric.

"Find Doran and the Yronwood boys and get to the bottom of this. I will not have them insult a member of the Royal Family in my home. My aunt no less!" His Papa very sternly told Andric who nodded quickly and then hurried away, Arthur watched him disappear into the crowd and then his Papa turned his face around to look at him again.

"Calling someone a crooked woman is not nice, Arthur, especially not if you do it to a Princess. Princess Daenora is the granddaughter of a King. And she is King Aerys' great-aunt, and yours as well." Arthur didn't understand how that would work, King Aerys was so much older than him, he had a son who was older then Arthur. "She has had a very difficult life and the privileges she has now are a consequence of the shame that the Crown brought upon her. People just will not accept that they did her wrong and caused her a lot of suffering."

"But she is so nice," Arthur said, she had snuck him candy earlier after his Mama had already told him he had had enough, and she had called Arthur a strong boy, and no one had ever called him a strong boy before. 

"She is," his Papa agreed, "but she can sometimes say things that are a little mean and she doesn't always treat all people the same."

"But why do they call her crooked?" Arthur insisted to hear, "she isn't crooked, she stands very straight. I think she dances very pretty. Elia and Ash called her graceful." He didn't know what that meant either but his sister and her friend had looked very happy when they had said it, they hadn't been mean. 

"Crooked can also mean that someone is manipulating people and abusing their position or their power," his Papa explained and stroked Arthur's hair down, "like the Blackmont boys did with you last year. You remember that still? They treated you very unkindly and made you do things you didn't want to do because they though they deserved to have that. Princess Daenora is mainly demanding to be treated like the Princess she wasn't allowed to be for the last thirty years and that is very much her right. She lost a great many things and people should respect and admire her strength instead of calling her these bad things."

"Do you think it'll make her happy if I ask her if she wants to see the painting of Princess Dyanna, Papa?"

His Mama had explained to him quickly earlier that Princess Daenora was her aunt because she had been married to Nana's brother, and Nana and her siblings had been the children of King Maekar and Dyanna Dayne. And Princess Dyanna had died before any of her children had married, so Princess Daenora had never got to meet her.

"I think that'll make her very happy, Artie."

\--

As he scrambled off to find the Princess, Arthur wouldn't know that his father used the time of him showing the Princess and his Nana who came along, too, the portrait of Dyanna Dayne in the big solar where Dawn was kept as well, to bring order back into his halls. He didn't find a crooked woman who abused her position at court after having been freed from her undeserved Essosi exile after thirty years. He found a kind Princess who was almost as old as his Nana and who could tell so many stories, who told him how handsome he was gonna be and that he was gonna grow as tall and strong as her husband had been.

He found a Princess who told him that if his Mama took him along to the capital the next time she visited then she would introduce him to all the Kingsguard Knights and the little Crown Prince.

And frankly, the rest was history.


End file.
